Here's what it's like to go to a 'Magic: The Gathering' tournament

Magic: The Gathering is an American card game that started in 1993. Players square off against each other using armies of fantasy monsters. It’s like Pokémon mixed with Yu-Gi-Oh!, but twice as complicated.

There’s a huge fanbase for the game — and they like to get together to play it socially. Sometimes that can just be meeting up casually, but they also hold large tournaments.

Business Insider went along to the 2015 London Grand Prix to see what it was like:

There were thousands of people here.

Business Insider/James Cook

Lots of fans were taking part in matches against each other. Everyone seemed to be having fun.

Business Insider/James Cook

People were still queueing to sign up to take part in the championship.

Business Insider/James Cook

Popular games attracted an audience of spectators. Here's what was happening at table No. 1.

Business Insider/James Cook

There were even commentators talking about what was going on in high-profile matches.

Business Insider/James Cook

The top matches were filmed and had a judge standing over them to check that nobody was cheating.

Business Insider/James Cook

Some fans were waiting to get posters and cards signed by Aleksi Briclot, an artist who paints the images for cards.

Business Insider/James Cook

Here are two of the judges wearing their official uniforms.

Business Insider/James Cook

Lots of trading stalls around the outside of the tournament were selling Magic: The Gathering cards.

Business Insider/James Cook

Some cards are very expensive! One rare card was being sold for 6,400 pounds, or $10,040.32.

Business Insider/James Cook

Many cards sell for hundreds of pounds, while others go for thousands. There's over 50,000 pounds' -- or $78,440 -- worth of cards in this photo alone.